BANGOR – One hundred and three days after the final out of the American League first-round playoff series between the Chicago White Sox and Boston, Red Sox radio announcers Jerry Trupiano and Joe Castiglione are ready to get back to work.

Sure the offseason is great to rest, recharge and recreate, but the rain, snow and cold are making at least one member of this long-running duo eager for the sight of green grass and the sound of wooden bats cracking baseballs.

“Every year I say, because there’s so much to catch up with in the offseason with all the honey-do projects, that I have to go back to work to get some rest,” Trupiano said with a hearty chuckle. “I’ve been putting wallpaper up the last three days and I can’t wait to get back to work.”

Trupiano, who will be back with Castiglione in the broadcast booth for a 14th season, is having his home in Franklin, Mass., renovated.

“We’re remodeling the master bathroom and finishing off the basement,” said the 55-year-old broadcaster and St. Louis native. “I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in five weeks. We’re not sleeping in our normal bed and we’re on the third floor in a room with a skylight, so it gets light earlier, and they have a construction project across the street building 40 houses.”

Trupiano and Castiglione were in Bangor Tuesday night for the third annual Evening with Joe and Jerry hot stove baseball event.

Trupiano has a break coming up as his family will be going on a cruise for a week’s vacation, but even that isn’t a total comfort.

“I’ve never been on a cruise before and I don’t really like the water. It makes me a little nervous,” Trupiano said. “Plus I can’t swim.”

Well, that’s not entirely true. Trupiano did get some impromptu swimming lessons from a friend when Trupiano was house-sitting at hockey legend Gordie Howe’s home when he was a broadcaster for the World Hockey Association’s Houston Aeros.

“When I lived in Gordie’s house, he had a pool and a buddy of mine was an instructor at the Y, so he tried to teach me to swim, so I guess I can dog paddle,” he said.

Castiglione, a veteran broadcaster who has spent the last 24 years of his 48-year career as one of the voices of the Red Sox, has no such compunctions about cruises.

“I’m heading out on the Red Sox cruise pretty soon with Rich Gedman and Dick Drago, and this year they’re also having some [Baltimore] Orioles greats as well with Earl Weaver and Scott MacGregor,” said the New Haven, Conn., native. “And then the following week is Red Sox Fantasy Camp in Florida.”

Ah, Florida, where Castiglione resides most of the offseason. It was from much-warmer Fort Myers that he flew into Bangor International Airport Tuesday night.

Tuesday’s weather was a big improvement over the snowstorm that made it almost impossible for he and Trupiano to attend the event.

“January and February are my lightest times of the year and this [hot stove] has become a staple for me up here, so I really have come to look forward to it,” Castiglione said.

Castiglione makes the most of his offseason and stays busy by teaching sports broadcasting courses at both Northeastern University in Boston and Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, N.H.

Even though Castiglione was seeing green grass all the time at home, he admitted the offseason is starting to seem a little too long now.

“I’m always anxious to get going. You’re always disappointed when the season ends, especially when you don’t win the World Series,” he said with a slight laugh. “You like the break from certain parts of the routine, even though I like most of the travel. But I’m ready to go in two or three weeks.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net